Re-multiplexers are often used in cable television systems for efficient data transmission from a content source to a consumer. The content source usually provides the cable operator with programs via one or more input transport streams, often in the form of MPEG transport streams. The simplest way to transmit the programs to the consumer would be for the cable operator to simply transmit all of the input transport streams it receives to a terminal at the consumer's location. However, this method would unnecessarily waste output bandwidth because not every consumer would be given access to every program in the transport stream.
Currently known MPEG re-multiplexers can obtain programs from multiple input transport streams and re-multiplex them into a single output stream containing selected programs, thereby preserving output bandwidth. However, there are some applications where it is desirable to generate two or more output streams from the input streams. There is presently no known re-multiplexer that can construct more than one output stream from multiple input streams.
There is a need for a re-multiplexing device that can generate multiple output streams from multiple input streams.